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Brent McClanahan, South High School teacher and former NFL player with the Minnesota Vikings, accepts the NFL teacher of the year award Wednesday at South, along with a check from the NFL for $5,000 that goes to South High.

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By Casey Christie / The Californian

South High School teacher and former NFL player Brent McClanahan, center, accepts the NFL teacher of the year award Wednesday from NFL Hall of Famer Randall McDaniel, left, along with a $5,000 check for South High School.

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By Casey Christie / The Californian

Former NFL player and current South High School teacher Brent McClanahan walks down the aisle to accept the NFL Teacher of the Year award while staff and friends congratulate him.

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By Casey Christie / The Californian

Brent McClanahan, former NFL player and current South High School teacher, stands with his granddaughter MiMi McClanahan while being interviewed by local media, Wednesday, as he holds his NFL teacher of the year award.

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Brent McClanahan, a South High educator since 1994, was surprised with the 2012 National Football League's teacher of the year award. It recognizes former NFL players who are working professionally as teachers, and who make a profound impact on educational and life-skills development.

McClanahan played for the Minnesota Vikings from 1973 to 1980.

"God bless everyone," McClanahan told his colleagues, who gave him a standing ovation. "This is an honor, and a thrill."

The award comes with $10,000, $5,000 of which goes to his campus. He was nominated for the award by South High Principal Connie Grumling, and for several years before by former principal Mike Zulfa.

"He's an absolute role model for our kids," said Zulfa, now an assistant superintendent of instruction for the Kern High School District. "He was just an outstanding athlete. And he came back and wanted to help these kids. He connects with them in a way not a lot of faculty members can. He's walked in their shoes literally. He's just a good man."

McClanahan teaches business and online education courses at South High. He played running back for the school before graduating in 1969, and then attended Arizona State before being drafted by the Vikings.

Grumling in her nomination statement wrote, "Mr. McClanahan impresses the value of hard work and dedication to his students. He helps them set realistic goals and set a path that will help them achieve those goals."

For the award he beat out 10 finalists, and was chosen by a voting panel that included U.S. congressmen, former NFL players, teachers and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

"We are proud of former NFL players who are able to use the values they learned on the football field -- integrity, preparation and persistence -- and carry them over into the classroom," Goodell said in a statement. "We honor these former NFL players for their dedication to the profession of teaching."

NFL hall-of-famer and former Minnesota Viking Randall McDaniel, also a teacher, presented McClanahan with a trophy. McClanahan's family also joined in on the surprise.

He called the award humbling, and said he'd prefer to stay out of the spotlight, and remain in the background instead.

Still, he said he's thankful to have been able to play football, play in three Super Bowls, and have a second career in teaching. Despite having had 28 surgeries and six concussions through his football career and after, he's glad he was healthy enough to return home to teach at his alma mater, he said.

After football, he fell back on education, he said, earning two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree. McClanahan has also been honored locally by the Jim Burke Education Foundation.

The body of a large paddle-tailed rodent was found early Tuesday in the traffic lanes of southbound Mohawk Street north of Truxtun Avenue, suggesting Bakersfield's fabled bike path beaver -- scourge of local saplings -- may have died.

The lush grasses and sweeps of wildflowers cloak much of the damage to the small canyon in a blanket of ephemeral green. But Ellen Cypher and Erin Tennant can see it as they walk along a sandy route that has been churned into the bottom of the wash by motorcyclists and quad riders.

Even Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez's self-serving, disingenuous and downright contemptuous ranting against a proposed ban of Piccolo Pete and ground flower-type fireworks wasn't nearly as stunning to me as Supervisor David Couch's silence and eventual vote against the ban.